Róisín Garvey (Green Party) | Oireachtas source

It is great to hear all of the positive stories from Members. It is a rare thing and it is great that we are all on the same hymn sheet in recognising the important work that is being done by the Department and the Minister and in overall agreement on looking again at how we share spaces and design for people and not just for cars. It is great to hear this unified voice in the House.

I thank the Minister for all of the funding that has been provided for rural transport. It is absolutely transformative for people in rural Ireland, including young people, people with disabilities and older people. It is hugely important for their social connectivity and their mental and physical health and well-being. I thank the Minister for doing this because we have wanted it for a long time and the previous Minister did not seem to be tuned into this fact at all.

Trucks are definitely necessary and nobody is talking about getting rid of trucks but we need to look at how we allow them to go straight through all of our villages and towns all of the time. In other countries this is not the case. Even within Dublin, DPD, An Post and a few other carriers have realised they do not always need to use trucks and they have switched to smaller electric tricycles. I am thinking about Ennistymon, Ennis, Kilrush and other places in Clare. What they do in other countries is that the trucks stop at the outskirts and the goods are moved to smaller vehicles. We really need to look at how we move goods. Trucks are very intimidating for people who are trying to cross the road and for small children. They pose a threat because they are the biggest, heaviest and most dangerous vehicles on the roads. We need to look at this. Trucks are necessary but do they have to be allowed to access all areas all of the time? This is not the case in other countries, where one feels safe in small towns and villages and where the trucks stop at the outskirts. We are seeing this in Dublin already.

I remind the Minister about the promise of a feasibility study on a rail line from Shannon Airport. I am looking forward to it. I also remind the Minister of the potential for stops in Crusheen and Cratloe on the train line from Galway to Limerick.

On cycling infrastructure, a new manual is coming out from the NTA and I would like to know when will it come out. If it does come out, it should not just be best practice but absolutely mandatory for the local authorities because the red paint will not cut the mustard anymore. It is not good enough. We need proper cycling infrastructure that is done well and we should stop wasting money on bad cycling infrastructure that does not increase the levels of cycling. If there is a new manual, it will have to be mandatory for all of the road engineers of Ireland.

We have regional airports and we will have to have regional rebalance when flights return. We have to look at the distribution of flights. They do not all need to go to Dublin. A total of 90% of flights are still coming into and out of Dublin. Whatever about increasing flights, we need to ensure incoming flights are distributed fairly. It is just as important for people to visit the west coast of Clare and Cork as it is for them to come into our capital city. We need to look at regional rebalance of the distribution of flights into our country.